The internal cards market in Europe from 2002 to 2020: A success or a failure?

Abstract

This article evaluates the history of the internal payment cards market in Europe from 2002 to 2020. It finds that despite such initiatives as EAPS, Monnet and PayFair, the European card industry has failed to create an independent pan-European card scheme. Thus, although Europe enjoys a unified payments market, with well-functioning domestic cards markets, pan-European cards acceptance across the Single Euro Payments Area is entirely reliant on co-branding with international (ie non-European) card schemes. While cards have become the most commonly used cashless payment product in the European internal market, the European payments industry has failed to deliver on policy objectives regarding sovereignty in the European payments market.